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And the kitchen, and the dining roo roo hacki sack or Frisbee tag Only juniper hedges and acacia trees She couldn’t even see Joyce’s car

Okay, so ood an opportunity toin her throat, Kaitlyn crept toward the paneled hallway under the staircase

The lance behind her at the French doors leading to Joyce’s roo up to find the crack that was the top of the door

Okay, she was in front of it Now to find the place Lewis had showed her She shut her eyes and concentrated on the iotten from Lewis They weren’t exactly visual,of how she shouldaround this level-and then he’d pushed with his ers

And then he’d ain Kaitlyn pushed again, pressing hard

So clicked

Kaitlyn’s eyes flew open I did it! I actually did it!

Excite out to fill every part of her body She was impressed with herself

Theto the left Stairs led doard, illuhts at foot-level

The bubbles see in her ears now, but Kaitlyn tried to listen over it Still, silence

Okay Going down

With each step into the red di her This wasn’t a nice place If she’d been a few years younger, it would have roped for the light switch she knew should be there-and then snatched her fingers back Too ood If there was soht notice

But if she didn’t turn on the light, she’d have to walk the whole way in darkness Just the thoughther an walking forward In a moment she had to put the other hand out to feel for obstacles She was blind

Each step was hard, and she had to clench her teeth tighter and tighter to an to feel

Oh, God, what if somebody came and saw the panel open and closed it and locked her in here?

The thought was so terrible that she aly to force herself forward And one ers encountered a door

Her need for light was so great that she reached autoht be on the other side But instead of a knob, her fingers found so like a calculator built into the door

What was it? She could feel little square buular pattern It really did feel like a calculator

Oh, you idiot You idiot YouIt’s a combination lock

Not one of those padlock kinds; one of the fancy ones, where you punch numbers on a keypad

And if this was the combination lock, then behind that door

It was in there That grotesque thing with the obscene crystalline growths all over it It was squatting in there just a few feet away

Kaitlyn a of evil

And then-she heard noises

From behind the door

They were in there with it

Oh, God, I’m so stupid, I’m so stupid Of course, they’re in there This is where they go in the afternoons, they go to the crystal, and they’re all sitting in there around it right now

Don’t panic, don’t panic, she told herself, but it was too late She was panicking She hadn’t even asked Lewis how to shut the secret panel She was incoht inside there and she didn’t have tiet away

Another noise sounded-very close to the door

Suddenly Kaitlyn wasWith great stocking-footed leaps she was sailing down the hallway toward the red stairs She reached the first step and began to scra her hands She got to the top of the stairs and the white light of the hallway blazed into her eyes That light was the only thing that stopped her, kept her fro room and out of the house-or up to her bedroom to hide under the bed She was alet under cover

"Kaitlyn, what on earth-?"

The voice was high and light, surprised Kaitlyn turned terrified eyes on Lydia

"What happened? Did they do so past her down the stairs

A tiny bit of Kaitlyn’s mind returned There was a chance, just a chance for help-for salvation Lydia knew about the panel; Lydia seemed worried about Kaitlyn

"Oh, Lydia," she said, and her voice came out a croak "I-I"

She’d meant to lie, to say that she’d been doith the others and she’d gotten scared But somehohat caone down there But Joyce never letsto be furious I don’t kno to get the panel shut"

Lydia was looking at her with level green eyes

"I just want to do the things they do," Kaitlyn said, then blurted, "I’m sorry if I was mean to you before"

There was a pause Kaitlyn’s heart was beating so hard she was dizzy Lydia was staring down at the staircase, lower lip caught between her teeth

Finally she looked up "So you want to do the things they do You’re one of them Okay" She leaned forward and touched the left wall quickly, in three different places

The panel slid shut, concealing the gaping hole

Kaitlyn stood, not knohat to do Lydia stared at the floor

"Be careful, Kaitlyn," Lydia said, and then she hurried away before Kaitlyn could recover

Kaitlyn stood under the spray of hot water, trying to get warnificent bruise on one knee

Lydia knew

There was no doubt in Kaitlyn’s mind The one in the house asn’t psychic was the one who’d found her out Kaitlyn’s lies hadn’t fooled her for a minute

So why had she helped Kaitlyn?

Oh, it didn’t matter Just please let her not tell Joyce Kaitlyn flexed her cold hands under the flood of water

But there was no way to ensure that The only way

to keep safe was to leave And Kaitlyn couldn’t do that No htened she was, she couldn’t leave when she’d come so far If she could just stick it out until Monday-and if she could get Rob to give her the shard-

-and if she could figure out the co herself as she went, Kaitlyn headed for her art kit

Last ti She’d been trying to see inside the rooe she had Maybe Joyce kept a Christmas tree in with the crystal Maybe there was a ship in a bottle in there Anyway, now she knehat to think about

Numbers She needed numbers for that combination lock And with her own art materials, with her beloved pastels and her faithful sketchbook, she was going to get those nuht off Kaitlyn threw a T-shirt over the lahtstand to dim it Okay, that was the proper ambiance Hair swathed in a towel, feet tucked under her, she put pastel to paper

She had never worked so hard at blanking herdarkness The itch and cra out to snatch new pastel sticks, swirling colors across the page

A few minutes later she looked at what she’d done

I can’t believe it I can’t believe it!

It was another ship with a Christmas tree

This time in color The ship’s sails were dove white, the planks were tinted sienna brown, the pretty curl) waves were three shades of blue And standing proudly on the deck was a celadon green Christarland and a yellow ocher star

Kaitlyn wadded the paper up in a fury and threw it at the s She wanted to throw so heavier-The door burst open

Instantly, Kaitlyn’s fury disappeared and terror rushed in to fill the vacuuet her She could hear thudding footsteps in the hall behind the figure in her doorway

"Hey, Kait, how co for an answer, she added,

"Come on! Get dressed!"

For what, execution? Kait wondered She heard her own voice saying al! We’re all going out to the club! Couys," Bri added slyly "You got so"

"Uh-that’s okay, I’ve got soine what sort of "duds" Bri ious, and Kaitlyn felt herself being propelled toward the closet "I’ve got a black dress-but why are we celebrating?"